


"My Mind is Like a Prison Cell"

by jessloue



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Avengers - Freeform, Avengers Compound, Avengers Family, BAMF Tony Stark, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Head Injury, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Irondad, M/M, Major Character Injury, Minor Violence, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter is a Little Shit, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Protective Avengers, Protective Tony Stark, Spider-Man: Homecoming Spoilers, Spiderbaby, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, spiderson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 04:50:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20669615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessloue/pseuds/jessloue
Summary: During Homecoming night while Peter was on that plane as it crashed, he suffered from a severe brain injury that caused so much emotional and physical pain. His head injury ended up being worse than they originally thought."Tony had rushed to the crash site as fast as possible. He began to think he was too late, but it wasn't hard to hear someone's distant cries for help.'Help me! Help! Som- P- Somebod- H-' As soon as he heard the cries, his stomach twisted into a tight knot. He knew exactly who the voice belonged to."





	1. The Incident

**Author's Note:**

> hello guys!! here is a new fanfic. this is inspired by @wolfypuppypiles's "theres a hole in my head and words are falling out" fanfiction! thank you for clicking on this <33
> 
> also, this fanfic takes place in spiderman hoco when peter is on that plane with the vulture guy and crashes. instead of being mostly okay, he comes out with a brain injury and tony freaks out literally 90% of this fanfic AHHA

Tony gently sang along to himself in his lab. He had been playing his usual AC/DC playlist that FRIDAY had prepared for him. He was tinkering with Peter's suit. He told the kid he'd take it away forever, but that wasn't exactly true. It was the heat of the moment, and he was pissed off at what Peter got himself into. Since then, he's cooled down and he decided when to give the suit back that he'd have new protocols, enhancements, and gadgets. The music lowered its volume, then came the familiar voice of FRIDAY.

"The aircraft that was sent out to the Avenger's compound is in distress. One of the turbine engines was severely damaged."

Tony perked up, then replied, "What? How?"

"The cause of the turbine engine's failure is unknown, boss."

"Mkay. Just- one second" Tony said as he clicked something into place on the suit. "Just restart it."

"Restarting now."

Tony sighed and spun around on his spinning chair and pushed himself over to the second desk he had and started packing his things into the box to prepare for the second shipment of items. 

"Restarting protocol has failed."

"What?"

"I am trying every protocol I can, boss. The plane is beginning to lose altitude quickly."

Tony nervously rubbed at his forehead and ran his hands through his short hair. "Is the other turbine okay?"

"Turbine A1 has completely failed. However, turbine A2 is in perfect condition."

"Send more power into turbine A2 to make up for turbine A1, Fri."

"Yes, boss."

About 5 minutes had passed, and Tony figured the plane was alright, and it must've landed at the compound by now. He was dancing in his chair as he scribbled in his notes about some of the new gadgets he was thinking about implementing and some new web formulas. He looked over as Dum-E was bringing him his peanut butter sandwich as he had requested. He took a bite into it and almost gagged.

"Really? This sandwich tastes like a chicken's asshole." Tony spat out. Dum-E shook his claw in response. Tony looked at him for a moment before rolling his eyes and turning back to his work.

"Boss, the aircraft has gone offline."

"What the hell is wrong with it now?"

"The plane has appeared to go offline. Sending signals to its most recently spotted location."

Tony let out a big sigh. Why couldn't anything go right for him? Probably because he was Tony Stark, and with that name cursed him with bad luck.

"Coordinates of the plane have been found. It has crashed on Coney beach. Scanning for heat signatures."

"There better not be any heat signatures. I don't feel like saving lives right n-"

"Two heat signatures detected."

"Fuck." Tony scrambled up and got into this Ironman suit and flew as fast as he could to Coney beach.

~

The area was literally a plane wreck. It looked like a hurricane had made its way through the beach. Fire was everywhere, pieces of airplane lay left and right. Something didn't feel right, Tony thought as he cautiously landed in the crash site.

"Hey, FRIDAY? Can you tell me where the heat signatures are?"

"I am unable to. The radiation from the crash is too stro-" FRIDAY's voice came as she shut off and the HUD of the Ironman suit had disappeared.

"You've gotta be shitting me." Tony then stepped out of the suit and was hit with the heat of the fire and the groaning metal that was once an SI plane. Something still didn't feel right. A plane this expensive and well-made doesn't just fail without any warning or diagnosis. He needed to find these two individuals who needed his help. 

Tony had rushed to the crash site as fast as possible. He began to think he was too late, but it wasn't hard to hear someone's distant cries for help.

"Help me! Help! Som- P- Somebod- H-" As soon as he heard the cries, his stomach twisted into a tight knot. He knew exactly who the voice belonged to. Tony's anxiety skyrocketed as he tried his hardest to yell back. There was a loud shrill of pain coming from his left where he heard the cry for help. The scream that was heard bounced in Tony's head, and rattled in his bones. The scream was sharp and it was pleading for help. He had never heard Peter in such pain before.

"P-" Tony's voice weakly cried out. No no. Not now. No. This can't be Peter. It couldn't. It didn't seem real. Wet, watery tears began to prickle in Tony's eyes as he tried to desperately blink them away to see.

"Please! I- N.. h.. Hurts. Th- Help- I can't make it, pl-" Peter screeched once more. The happy, excited voice that once was Peter's was now empty and filled with pain. Tony pushed himself forward and one tear fell quickly down his left cheek. Tony didn't have a Peter Tingle, but a dad always knew where his son was.

"Kid, I-I'm here!" Tony spat out, trying to block out the pain that was now heavily coating his own voice. He stumbled around the metal and fire and that's when he saw him.

There was a heavy piece of metal on top of Peter. His curls weakly hung from his head as he rested in the sand. He was barely fidgeting anymore, and the metal was just barely moving up and down with his breaths. Tony suddenly felt sick, he felt like he didn't exist. He felt like none of this existed. He tried walking over to Peter but it all felt like an alter reality. This wasn't real, Tony repeated for the 11th time in his head...

But it was real. It was very much real. 

Tony weakly ambled over to Peter and tried his hardest to push the metal off. He heard FRIDAY alert him that she was online once more, and an Ironman gauntlet flew onto his right hand as he shoved the metal up.

He looked down at Peter. He had a giant gash on his right side, his left foot was twisted in an unnatural angle. His head had a giant bruise that was now forming on his right temple and forehead. Peter's eyes were now half-open slits, but were red, puffy, and swollen. He had tears running down the side of his face as she shook in fear. Peter had no idea who had rescued him. His senses weren't working right now, as he was in too much shock. His head seared with pain as it throbbed. The world around him was spinning at what it seemed like 1000 miles per hour.

He barely looked up and saw the familiar face of Tony. Tony's eyes had been crying just as much as Peter's. It was hard to make out what was going on. Was it Tony? Or was it just his overly optimistic alter ego telling him everything will be perfectly fine. Peter felt the warm, shaking hand of his mentor place on his left cheek.

"M- St..k.. is th-" Peter slowly said, fading into a dark void of unconsciousness.

"I'm here. I'm here. Shh." Tony said, his voice cracking with fear, "FRIDAY, get people out here. Don't care who. Get Bruce, please. Oh God, we need Bruce." He turned to Peter once more and said his wise, reassuring words. Peter couldn't hear them. It sounded muffled and distorted. His eyelids were getting extremely heavy and it felt like somebody had put the weight of his guilt right onto his eyelids. They slowly shut as Peter felt like he had fallen off the edge of the world and was falling headfirst into the painfully dark abyss. 

~

Bruce, Sam, Nat, Steve, and Bucky had gotten into the SI helicopter as fast as they could. They were not aware of what was going on. They were only told that there was an emergency in Coney beach off near New York and they needed to bring as many medical supplies as possible. Sam and Bucky were worried and they were taking shaky breaths. Nat, Steve, and Bruce had tried their best to remain calm, but inside they were pretty nervous. Usually, Tony never requested medical help unless it was for another avenger. The only two times that he called for Bruce's medical help was for Bucky and one for Clint on a mission. Who was it this time?

About 8 minutes had passed, and they arrived at the site. The place was a god damn mess, but there, in the middle-ish, was Tony. He was easy to spot, because his Ironman suit wasn't that far away. Tony was clearly in emotional pain as he sobbed and stood over someone with a red and blue crappily put together suit. It was Peter.

Once Steve had noticed who was hurt, there was a searing pain shot up into his back. Peter felt like family to him.. almost like Steve was one of Peter's many uncles. He cared about this kid, but he couldn't imagine how scared Tony was.

Once the 'copter landed, Steve was the first one to get up and sprint over to Tony and Peter. Peter was clearly unconscious. He noticed the gash on his side and the burn holes on his weak suit from the fire. Tony was sobbing. Like, full-on sobbing. He began to wonder if the kid was unconscious or.. dead.

"Tony.. is he-"

"No!" Tony yelped. He didn't even want to hear Peter's name in the same sentence as dead. He felt his heartbeat. It was weak and tiny but it was there. He brushed his curls back and began to cry. Tony was fucking scared, and he didn't plan on showing his soft side to anyone but he didn't want Peter to die. He had to keep on fighting. He just meant too much to Tony to die and leave him there. Tony grasped Peter's bicep and shook it gently, muttering under his breath to wake up.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up, please for the love of God, Peter wake up." Another tear fell on Peter's shoulder that belong to Tony. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up for a split second and relief washed over him. It was Bruce, and he had a cart that was loaded with medical supplies.

"Tones, it's okay. Come on-" he tried to seperate the two, but Tony yelped and held onto Peter even longer. 

"Tony, you have to let Bruce help him! It's only gonna get worse come on." Nat demanded. She felt bad for Tony, but this wasn't the time for mourning. The kid wouldn't be okay if he didn't let Bruce help him. Nat took his right arm and pulled him off Peter and held him into a hug. Tony hugged her back, still crying quietly.

Bruce started wrapping Peter in all sorts of equipment. It had been a few moments before any update from Bruce. Bruce's eyes widen, and it looked like all the life had drained out of Bruce's face.

"Bruce, what is it? What's wrong? Is he okay? Is my kid okay?" Tony said, getting louder with each word. Bruce turned to Tony, with tears forming in his own eyes.

"I-" He quietly spat out. "Something isn't- Steve get over here, now."

Steve did what he was told, and rushed over to Bruce's side. Bruce explained to him what the problem was and Steve's face went pale. He then nodded and turned to the helicopter. Tony watched carefully as Steve jogged back with the one thing he didn't want to see in his hands; a defibrillator. Tony's heart skipped a beat as he tried to pull himself from Nat's iron grasp.

"Tony, please, stop!! It's okay you need to listen to me- Stop it!" Natasha yelled out to Tony, who was still being restrained by Nat. She pulled Tony into another comforting hug.

This only meant one thing. Peter had died in the hands of Tony, and there was only one thing he could do.. sit there and watch as they tried to revive his dead body. There was a painfully loud jolt as Peter's back arched and shook and fell back down onto the sand. There was another jolt, after another, and then the loud voice of Bruce came:

"H- We're getting a heartbeat!"


	2. Awoken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! hope u had a good day!!

Peter opened his eyes just barely. It hurt to see, everything was too bright. He could barely move anything without it hurting. He slowly looked down, and found himself buried under white sheets. The walls of the room he was in was a very light blue. He blinked. Was he dead? Sure looked like it. He tried to sit up, then a sudden sharp pain in his lower back stopped him, he moaned in pain and began to panic. He tried to look to his side, but he wasn't able to. The brace around his neck was preventing that.

He hummed again, trying to request help. His voice was soft, gentle, and quiet. No one heard him. The machine next to him began to beep quicker. His heart rate was increasing and it was starting to scare him. He wanted to know where he was and how he got here. His eyes started prickling with tears. Just then, a man walked in with his head looking down at a clipboard he was holding. The man looked up, and Peter soon recognized him as Bruce. Bruce gave a big, heartwarming smile at Peter, who was now fully conscious.

"Hey, Pete-ster." Bruce softly said as he sat down on a chair right beside Peter's bed, "I want you to blink if you can hear and understand what I'm saying." Peter blinked. Bruce gave another smile and nodded. He began scribbling on his clipboard.

"Alrighty, Imma give you the rundown on whats going on. So, you're probably scared because you don't know whats goin' on?" Bruce asked, Peter giving him a hesitant nod. "That's alright. You're in the Avengers Compound right now." At that sentence, a wave of relief and safety washed over Peter. Thank goodness he wasn't at a normal hospital.

"H-how'd-" Peter spat out. "How'd you get here?" Bruce asking to clarify. Peter nodded. "Remember that plane crash? You got hurt?" Peter remembered now. He remembered Tony sobbing before he passed out. The fire, police sirens, smoke, and the metal was a vivid reminder of what happened to him.

Bruce cleared his throat, then began, "You got hurt. Badly." He said, as he turned to his clipboard once more, then began, "You sprained your neck, fractured your femur, gouged open your side, shattered your left ankle, and sustained a severe head injury." Peter clenched his jaw. Bruce once more continued, "Peter, this next thing I am going to tell you might scare you a bit, is it okay if I tell you?" Peter slowly nodded, scared of what he would say.

Bruce sighed deeply, then slowly began, "You died. For 7 minutes straight, Petey. Thank goodness we got there in time because we had to use the defibrillator on ya, kiddo. Scared the shit out of all of us."

The machines began rapidly beating and Peter had at least 4 tears running down his cheek. This freaked him the fuck out. Out of all things, he didn't expect to almost die because of that. The Avengers still weren't aware that the crash had been mostly his fault, and his stupid little mistake killed him. Literally.

"No, no, no. Hey. Look at me, it's okay! You're doing so much better but you need to listen, it's okay." Bruce tried to reassure him. Maybe he shouldn't of told him about his alleged death just yet. This didn't help, he was still panicking. Bruce turned and muttered something, calling for someone. He turned back to Peter and rubbed his arm, whispering reassurance to him.

Moments later, a worried Tony pushed open the door and saw Peter with tears streaming down his cheeks, sobbing loudly. Tony felt relieved that Peter was okay and was able to think, but he wondered why Peter was freaking out so much. Tony was great at comforting Peter. In fact, he was so good that Steve and Sam started calling him "Irondad."

He trotted up next to Peter and began wiping the tears off of his face and talking to him. Peter was so glad to see Tony, and make sure he was okay. Peter instantly stopped panicking as soon as Tony began to physically comfort and reassure him that everything was alright.

But, Peter couldn't stop thinking about the what-ifs; what if I actually died? How would May react? Where would I be? Would Mr. Stark be okay?

Peter slowly took his hand out from under the sheets and weakly grabbed at Tony's shirt. He wanted to hug Tony.. he had been so scared. He wanted to thank him for even coming for him. Tony held Peter's hand that was grabbing for him, and he leaned down and gave an extremely gentle but comforting hug to ensure he wouldn't hurt Peter. Tony's shoulder caught the last few tears that came out of Peter's eyes. They stayed like that for a while, and Bruce had left. He figured they needed to talk things out, and Bruce didn't want to invade their privacy.

"M- Sta- I'm so so- I'm sorry I-" Peter stuttered out. Tony was confused at first, then he remembered this was Peter Parker. He would always jump to the conclusion that it was his fault, no matter what happened.

"For what?"

"I- It was m- my fault that plane c-"

"No it wasn't, man."

"Y-yes."

"How?"

"I- was trying to s-save it and the vul-vulture guy broke the engine a-nd I couldn't do any-thing.. I tried Mr. Stark don't be mad, don't be ma-" Peter broke into another sob.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. Pete, I don't honestly give a shit about that plane it was nearing its retirement anyways. It's okay Pete. You're okay, I'm okay. Everything's fine. Don't be so rough on yourself."

"But it's my fault I'm h-hurt"

"No, it's that vulture guy's fault; he broke the engine, not you."

"B-but-"

"No buts, no coconuts, no cuts."

"That isn't how it goes-"

"Okay, whatever. But listen, Peter. You're okay."

"I died-"

"No, you're alive right now."

~

Peter awoke from his nap about an hour later. He felt more relaxed after knowing where he was, where Mr. Stark was, and what was wrong with him. His head wasn't hurting nearly as much. Nothing really hurt anymore, which Peter assumed was the medicines they gave him. He looked out the window and saw the trees gently sway back and forth. 

He heard footsteps outside his door, and the door gently opened. Tony entered the door. He was wearing an oil-stained shirt with blue sweatpants. "Hey, Underoos." Tony greeted with a smile.

"Hi." 

"How's it hanging? Does anything hurt."

"No, I actually feel better, Mr. Stark."

"Good!" Tony smiled, ruffled Peter's hair, then looked around for something. He picked up a little remote with three buttons on it. He handed it to Peter, "Alright, this little thingy here is gonna help you. See this big, blue button? Press it if you need help from me or Bruce. This button off to the left here that's green will send pain medications into your IV which is going to help in case it starts hurting again all of the sudden. This button on the right that's yellow is gonna be for emergencies only."

Peter nodded, thankful he had some way other than FRIDAY to contact somebody. 

"Everything clear, kiddo?"

"Uh-huh. Question, when can I take a shower?"

"Hm. You probably wont take a shower because you might fall but maybe a bath? I can ask Bruce later."

"Thanks. Can I go on my phone?"

"No."

"What? Why?"

"Because your head injury, Pete. You can't be looking at too much light or else it wont heal."

"But I have super healing, pleeeeeeease"

"I said no, Peter."

"Ugh."

"Don't 'ugh' me, sir."

"What do I do then? I'm bored. Can I go to school? Can I see Ned? What about MJ? Can I watch TV, Mr. S-"

"Holy shit, take a breather."

Peter laughed, but he was bored. He had barely anything to do except look at the ceiling all day and watch the spider that's been in his room since he got there. 

"Mr. Stark, can I watch TV, though?"

"Mmmmm. Don't know 'bout that, kiddo."

"Seriously?"

"I'll ask Bruce, but seriously. Don't turn that TV on or I'm selling the Spider-man suit." Tony smiled as he walked out. Peter sighed and started drawing circles with his finger on the sheets. Moments later, Bruce walked in with Tony closely behind him.

"Hey, Petey." Bruce said, "Tones told me about how you wanted the TV and your phone. The phone is a no. Your brain is still injured and in shock and light would just damage it, man." Peter took in a breath and felt a little upset to hear the news. "But, the TV is a go. We're gonna turn the brightness down a lot and since its so far from your eyes I don't think it should be a problem. If your head starts hurting, you turn that TV off right away, you hear me?"

"YES!" 

"Kid, you do know that you need to turn it off if anything starts hurting?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Moments later, they finally set up the TV. Peter, of course, turned on Star Wars. Tony sat in a chair next to him watching TV, too. For once, Tony got a good night's sleep, and Peter drifted off hours before Tony did. They both felt comfortable next to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!! iluu <3333 sorry this was so short i didnt know what to write sdjsdusj

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! lmk any thoughts or opinions in the comments! also omg im so sorry this was kinda short i didnt know what else to add.


End file.
